Discovery
by Ryo-girl
Summary: Originally 'Dreams'. Lex discovers Clark's secret after he remembers the day of the meteor shower.
1. Default Chapter

Title: Discovery: Part 1  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Notes: This story was originally going to be about Clark and Lex dreaming about their first meeting the day of the meteor shower. But, I changed the plan. Now, it's gonna a fic leading up to Lex's discovery of Clark's secret.  
  
~*~  
  
LEX  
  
Alexander "Lex" Luthor didn't dream very often; he avoided it by staying up late and falling in to bed far too exhausted to dream.  
  
But this night, things were different. Lex had run out of work, and had decided to actually go to bed before 4 in the morning.  
  
He had slipped into his comfortable silk pajamas (black, of course) and pulled back the covers on his probably-too-large-for-one-person bed. He laid down, pulled the blanket up, and waited for sleep to take him.  
  
It didn't happen for at least an hour, and Lex found his mind wandering to the same thing it did whenever he had free time:  
  
Clark.  
  
Clark Kent, resident farm-boy and totally naïve sixteen-year-old. How a boy could take a personal interest in Lex Luthor and not want anything in return was beyond even Lex, but he didn't mind. It felt nice to know that someone liked him for him and not because of his money.  
  
It was nice to know that at least somebody wasn't using him.  
  
As Lex slipped further and further from consciousness, he realized one thing: there was no way that Clark Kent was normal.  
  
LEX'S DREAM  
  
Nine-year-old Alexander Luthor wandered into the cornfield to the left of his father's limo. His father didn't call him back (he was too busy yelling at somebody else), and Lex was glad. The cornfields didn't really interest him, but it was nice to wander around without being watched for awhile.  
  
His father, billionaire Lionel Luthor, had taken him out of boarding school. The one boarding school that Lex felt that he actually belonged in. He had made a friend; a boy with a father just like his own. Bailey Prescott. Typical rich kid name, but who was he to talk? -Alexander- wasn't really all that original, either.  
  
Lex heard a strange bussing/hissing coming from somewhere above him; he raised his head and saw a large glowing rock heading straight for earth.  
  
[No, not a rock.] Lex thought in the seconds before it crashed.  
  
[A meteorite.] Then the rock slammed into the ground. Lex's feet came out from under him and the ground came rushing up. He felt a little giddy and light-headed, but he didn't have the time to dwell on it because the next thing he saw was darkness.  
  
~*~  
  
Lex drifted in and out of consciousness; he felt a jacket being wrapped around him and strong arms lifting him up. This wasn't his father; the smell wasn't right. He heard footsteps and his father muttering something about "his hair, his hair".  
  
None of it mattered to Lex. He was tired, achy, and he just felt -off-. He couldn't explain why, but he just wanted to fall asleep.  
  
His father's voice rang out close to Lex's ear, and Lex's mind snapped back to focus. Had he fallen asleep?  
  
Apparently he had. He heard tires on a dirt floor, and the arms that held him were stiff, as if they were unused to cradling anything.  
  
"What do you have back there? It's slowing us down!" that voice belonged to his father. Lex heard no reply.  
  
He felt eyes on him, and struggled to open his own. When he finally managed it, he was stunned by what he saw.  
  
A boy, younger than he was, maybe three years old, was smiling at him. He had no clothes and was wrapped tightly in a blue woolen blanket. His hair stood on end and his skin was coated slightly in dirt.  
  
Hardly presentable, but Lex didn't mind.  
  
Next to the boy was a man with brown/blonde/red hair. His eyes were hazel- ish as they watched both Lex and the boy.  
  
The boy was sitting on a red-haired woman's lap. She looked like his mother.  
  
She, too, was watching him and the little boy. Lex watched, confused, as the boy reached over to him and ran his hand down the side of Lex's face. His smile was friendly, and his eyes were curious.  
  
Lex had never seen eyes that color blue before. They looked silver one second, blue the next, then green after that.  
  
Lex had the distinct feeling that those odd-colored eyes could see clear through him and straight into his soul.  
  
Lex didn't like the feeling, but there was little he could do about it.  
  
Lex gave him as close to a smile as he could manage, but that familiar darkness was creeping back on him, and he let his head fall back onto his father's chest. His world was dark again, but he had one single thought before he gave into it fully:  
  
Who was this boy who seemed to be able to look into his soul and yet not run away screaming?  
  
~*~  
  
[Later, at the hospital]  
  
Lex awoke to discover his father nowhere in sight. He felt a needle in his arm and a breather in his nose. His head ached, as did the rest of his body.  
  
What had happened? He couldn't remember clearly. He had been walking in the cornfield, and then.  
  
A big orange ball. A meteorite. Then, nothing.  
  
Wait. He remembered something else. A color. Blue/Silver/Green. Who did they belong to?  
  
He couldn't remember.  
  
"Ah, Lex, I see that you have finally decided to rejoin the land of the living." That voice belonged to his father. He'd recognize him anywhere.  
  
That and only his father called him "Lex". His mother had always called him "Alex".  
  
"Dad? What happened?" Lex's voice was scratchy. His head felt a little funny. Cold.  
  
He lifted a hand and moved to pat it down. Only nothing was there.  
  
"Wh-what?" he stuttered, shocked. His father said,  
  
"You had an accident, Lex. A meteorite. The radiation from it-"  
  
"It what?" Lex was now frantic. Where was his hair?! His hair was all he had left of his mother: it was exactly her shade, and he wanted to keep it long, like hers. His father didn't go for it, but that didn't matter to Lex.  
  
"It caused all of your hair follicles to die. Your hair all fell out. And it won't grow back, Lex."  
  
"No," Lex whimpered softly, not caring that his father was near.  
  
"Toughen up, Lex. It's just hair. Now, we need to discuss this habit you have of straying away from me. You are not to do anything without my permission."  
  
What Lex didn't know was that was the beginning of many, many lectures on the nature of big business and 'what a good son should be like'.  
  
~*~  
  
In his bed, Lex jerked awake, stunned. That dream had been -vivid-. Like something repressed.  
  
Who was that boy? Clark. It had to be Clark.  
  
That explained why that jolt went down his spine when he saw Clark that night by the river.  
  
He had that strange feeling of De JA Vu, and was confused about where it had come from.  
  
But why was Clark naked, dirty, and in the truck with the Kents, himself and his father? It didn't make sense; Clark had been adopted from Metropolis. Right?  
  
Lex realized that he'd always assumed that. But what if that wasn't the case?  
  
He only dwelled a minute on it, though, because the next second he realized something:  
  
Both of them should be dead. And yet, he was alive and Clark was unharmed.  
  
If both of them had been in the cornfield when the radiation from the meteor had wreaked out, both of them should be dead.  
  
But Clark was fine, except for the occasional sickness that only struck every once in awhile and was gone as quickly as it had become.  
  
And Lex himself had only lost his hair. Not much, really, when you consider some of the other odd things that had happened around here.  
  
Mystery #1 in the 'Mysteries of Smallville: Volume 1'. That version of the book was devoted to Clark. The other weird stuff was in a second, much smaller volume.  
  
Lex sat up and his head in disgust as he felt his silk shirt stick onto his back. He needed to take a shower and change his clothes.  
  
That was the last night he went to bed before he was dead tired.  
  
~*~  
  
Well, what did you think? Reviews? Criticism? Anything? 


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Discovery  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Notes: This took forever to get out. I'm really, really sorry. I wanted to make sure I did this right. Thanks for reading!  
  
~*~  
  
The next morning, Lex headed over to the Kent farm. He wanted to ask Clark about the dream, and see if the boy remembered anything.  
  
Not that he would tell Lex if he did. If that had something to do with Clark's secret, there was no way that he would get a straight answer.  
  
Well, hell, a guy could try, right?  
  
"Clark!" he called into the barn. Clark, dressed in old jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, poked his head over the railing. The smile that crossed his face could have lit Metropolis for a year.  
  
"Lex! What's up, man?" Clark asked, coming down to meet him. Lex smiled at him and said,  
  
"Nothing much. Just came by to see how you were doing." It wasn't a lie; he enjoyed checking up on Clark. It reassured him, knowing that the boy was relatively safe, at least for the time being.  
  
Clark laughed, and then grew serious.  
  
"Are you okay, Lex? You look tired. Late night?" Lex smiled. Clark had given him the opening he needed.  
  
"Actually, no. I turned in early last night. I don't usually."  
  
"How come?" Clark asked, curious. He led Lex up into the second floor, which was littered with papers and books. A school thing, no doubt.  
  
"I have dreams. Bad dreams." Suddenly, Clark looked a little worried.  
  
"Did you have one last night?"  
  
"Sort of. It wasn't a dream. More of a memory." Lex said smoothly. Clark would take the bait.  
  
"A memory of what?" Clark asked, curious. Lex smiled and said,  
  
"The day I lost my hair."  
  
~*~  
  
Clark froze. He, himself, remembered some of that day. Not a lot, of course, but he knew that there was a chance Lex had seen him there.  
  
"I didn't really remember a lot of what happened; at least, not until now." Lex said, putting his hands into his pockets.  
  
Clark tried to make his face impassive. What did Lex remember? If he was Clark in the field.  
  
Oh, god! What if he -had-? He would know that something wasn't right!  
  
"I was with my father," Lex started, and his eyes got a little unfocused. He started outside, and Clark followed. They leaned against the railing, and Clark fixed his gaze on Lex.  
  
"We were stopped in the field. I wandered off, because I was bored and more than a little angry with my father."  
  
"How come?" Clark asked softly. Lex glanced at him and said,  
  
"He had just taken me from boarding school. It was the only one I ever liked. I actually had a friend there." Lex smiled softly. "Bailey Prescott."  
  
Clark chuckled. The name sounded like someone from Lionel's crowd. He supposed it was Lex's crowd, too, but he had never though of Lex as one of -them-.  
  
"Anyway, I wandered into the field, and then I looked up. I remember seeing the meteor coming, and I ran. But I wasn't fast enough. I passed out."  
  
Clark made a strangled sound. He had known that he was responsible for Lex's hair loss and many of the deaths in town that day, but hearing it from Lex really drove it home.  
  
"I remember waking up again, and hearing my father's voice. Then, I passed out again." Lex smiled, a little embarrassed. He hadn't really been one for passing out, and it was kind of humiliating.  
  
But Clark's eyes held no judgement, and Lex flashed back to the little boy sitting next to him.  
  
The little boy with Clark's eyes.  
  
"Then, I woke up again. This time, I was in my father's arms. He wasn't used to holding things, so he was stiff and it wasn't very comfortable. We were in your father's truck, though I didn't know it then. Anyway, I heard my father ask Jonathan what was in the back, because it was slowing us down."  
  
Clark stiffened slightly, but didn't stop him.  
  
"I tried to open my eyes, but it was hard. I felt terrible; my head ached, my body was sore, and something was wrong with my head."  
  
Clark uttered another strangled sound, and Lex pretended not to hear it.  
  
It seemed he had stumbled onto the key to Clark's secret. Who would have thought he had it the whole time?  
  
"When I finally managed it, I found myself staring at three people. Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent-" he looked at Clark, who wasn't breathing anymore.  
  
"And a little boy who reminds me of you. You know what happened then? That little boy smiled at me. I remember because no one had ever smiled at me like that, except for my mother. I remember thinking: what did I do to deserve such a smile? That boy reached out and ran his hand down my face."  
  
Clark still wasn't breathing, Lex noticed. His grin softened.  
  
"It felt good; oddly soothing, which was odd as well. I passed out again, and then I woke up in the hospital. My father told me about my hair, and I remember feeling so upset."  
  
Clark started breathing again and Lex continued,  
  
"My hair was the last thing I had of my mother. It was her shade, and it was -mine-, so my father couldn't take it from me."  
  
Clark felt like a monster. He had taken Lex's greatest treasure from him, and Lex sounded so upset.  
  
"Clark, you know why I'm telling you this?"  
  
"Because I'm cheaper than a therapist?" Clark joked weakly. Lex smiled and said gently,  
  
"No, Clark. I told you this because I think that little boy was you." Clark closed his eyes and swallowed hard.  
  
"The years match, Clark, and his eyes looked just like yours." Clark stepped back and said weakly,  
  
"Come on, Lex. You know that wasn't me."  
  
"Clark," Lex said gently, moving closer. "That -was-you. Why else would your parents have you in that car? Why else would the dates and ages math so closely? That was you, wasn't it, Clark?" Clark raised his eyes to Lex's and pleaded, desperately,  
  
"Don't ask me that!"  
  
"Why not?" Lex demanded. His voice was a mix of exasperation, pleading, and hurt.  
  
"Because I can't tell you the truth!" Clark said without thinking, and then he froze. Lex smiled, but it was a soft, gentle smile.  
  
"Clark, listen to me. I hit you on that bridge. I know it. I remember seeing you, and feeling so guilty because I have taken another's life. A person who so obviously had so much to live for."  
  
Again, Clark stopped breathing.  
  
"When I woke up and saw you again, you know what that first thing I thought was?"  
  
"What?" Clark asked weakly.  
  
"'Thank you, God, for not taking this beautiful boy.'"  
  
Clark gasped, and stepped back.  
  
The urge to tell Lex was so strong it was almost impossibly to fight.  
  
Why shouldn't he? Why was Lex so dangerous?  
  
Clark had seen Lex at his best and his worst, and trusted Lex wholeheartedly. Why should his friendship with Lex suffer because his -father- had a grudge? It wasn't fair, to either of them, but Lex especially.  
  
Clark took a deep breath, looked at Lex's soft eyes, and said,  
  
"Lex, I have something I need to tell you."  
  
~*~  
  
Well, what did you think? I hope it's ok, because it took forever to get out.  
  
Any ideas about the next chapter? I'm not sure, yet, if they should experiment right after or wait a little while.  
  
Thanks again for reading!! 


End file.
